New Cvitkovič film excels in Montreal, Kovačevič wins best actress award
Montreal, 6 September - Družinica (The Basics of Killing), a crisis-related family drama by one of Slovenia's leading directors Jan Cvitkovič, has made a successful film festival circuit debut in Montreal, stirring the audience and collecting the award for best actress at the A level festival.
Portorož
Film director Jan Cvitkovič.
Photo: Tamino Petelinšek/STA
Irena Kovačevič won the best actress award for the role of a mother in a family whose relationships crumble under the burdens of unemployment caused by the economic crisis.
The Basics of Killing or Little Family in literal translation is a story that happens every day in Slovenia, but it could also happen anywhere else, the Slovenian Film Centre wrote.
Cvitkovič, who burst onto the film scene with his 2001 debut Bread and Milk, that won him the Lion of the Future in Venice, described it as a story of "an average middle class family hit by various personal tragedies".
Kovačevič was "deeply moved by the story, since my family was also under financial distress at the time and it was the first time that I sought welfare support". Upon reading the script, she immediately told Cvitkovič she was up to the challenge.
The Basics of Killing will premiere in Slovenia at the Festival of Slovenian Film in Portorož on 14 September. In Ljubljana it will first be screened at the Cankarjev dom centre on 11 October.